Family Christmas Games

The reason why most of us love Christmas (apart from the holidays) is because it is a time when the entire family comes together. These reunions give us a chance to spend quality time with one another and a help us to strengthen our bonds. While these times are bound to be a lot of fun, one can add to the enjoyment with some party games. Between singing carols and gorging on gastronomic feasts, one can organize Christmas party games for the whole family, so that the kids don't get bored and the older folk join in the fun. It is fairly easy to take regular party games and give them a Christmas spin to create your own homemade variety of games. Alternately, there is a multitude of games too, such as Christmas carol games, Santa Claus games and Christmas puzzles games. Here are some of my favorites:

Christmas Games at a Family Get-together

Gift Exchange Game

I took a fancy to this game after I read a story about it, and how the members of the family allowed their love of each other to take precedence over their desire for a certain gift. I believe it is the right family Christmas game for a large family. For this game, each person contributes a wrapped gift, and items are often the kind to educe a good laugh. The gifts are all piled under the Christmas tree. To start the game, each person draws a number, to decide the order in which the gifts will be picked. To reduce the effort, gifts could be picked in clockwise direction. The first person gets up, picks a gift from under the tress, unwraps it and shows it to everyone. Once he/she settles down, the person next in line can either pick a wrapped present from under the tree, or take the one the first player picked. If the second player decides to take the first players gift, then the first player has to pick another from under the tree. As each player's turn comes, he/she may either 'steal' an unwrapped gift (from someone else), or pick a wrapped one from under the tree. The person whose gift is stolen, can either 'steal' another person's gift (but not the gift that was just stolen from him), or pick a new one from under the tree. It is only when a new/wrapped gift is stolen that the turn is passed to the player with the next number.

Later into the game, the cycle of stealing can continue for a long time. However to prevent the game from stalling if one items keeps getting stolen by the players, it can be declared safe after three consecutive steals. The game is over until all the Christmas gifts have been opened, and each player has one.

Secret Snowman

This is a funny little game that can carry on through the day. I've included it because all the little kids get a good laugh out of it. All you need is a paper snowman with a bit of sticky tape/double-sided tape attached to the back of it. The game is very simple. You take the snowman and paste it on someone's back without them finding out what you are doing. When they realize, they have to take it out and transfer it to someone else's back. Make an announcement before you start, that each person should try to stick it onto someone who has not had it on their back already. Don't worry if it spends a longer amount of time on one persons back, for sooner or later, snickering kids are sure to give the person a clue.

I hope you enjoy these games, and they add to the fun of the occasion. Two other options that I love are Christmas carol pictionary and stick the nose on Rudolf, for the kids.